The inner butterfly effect occurs when small triggers - thoughts, emotions, or physical distractions - create cascading mental chaos that destroys productivity

Eben defines this as when 'something pops up in your mind and then it triggers another thought and then another thought and they just start swirling and swirling. And before you know it, a half hour is gone and you've gotten nothing done except worrying or thinking about the exact same things that you thought about yesterday.'